The Gift of the Spirit, Spiritual Gifts, Speaking in Tongues and Prophecy, Part 14

What follows is pretty much an addendum to this post, http://soapypetesbox.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-gift-of-spirit-spiritual-gifts_7679.html. While reading in 1 Peter recently at the gym, I recognized that 1 Peter 4:10-11 probably refers to gifts of the Holy Spirit, generally and to a couple of gifts in particular:

1 Peter 4:10 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; ...

I will not claim, with the same certainty as with 1 Corinthians 12, that these verses definitely speak of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but I will show reasons why I believe this to be the case. These 2 verses (actually, 1 1/2) are part of a larger context, verses 7-11, which are general instructions given to believers in light of the end of the world system being “near”.

The word in verse 10 translated "special gift" is the word karisma. While the literal meaning of this word is an unmerited favor or gift of grace, it is also the word Paul used throughout 1 Corinthians 12, 13 and 14 and in Romans 12:6 to denote the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

The word in verse 11 translated “speaks” is laleo. It is used in 1 Corinthians 12-14 in reference to speaking in tongues. The word is also, however, used to mean speaking, generally, including in those very same chapters of 1 Corinthians. I do not think, on the basis of this word alone, that it must refer to prophecy and/or speaking in tongues, but the word translated “utterances (of God)”, logion, does support that understanding. Logion means just as the NASB renders, an “utterance”; in the New Testament the word is specifically used to mean words spoken by God or an oracle of God (e.g. the Law given to Moses).

The word in verse 11 translated “serves” and “serving”, diakoneo, means an a servant or attendant who waits on some one's needs. It is used frequently in the New Testament to mean “serve” or “minister”, and is the Greek word from which we get the English word “Deacon”. It is also the verb form of the noun Paul used in the Romans 12 list of spiritual gifts for the gift of service. The clause, “as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies,” makes very clear that the serving to which Peter especially referred is more than just a natural ability, job or incidental action. Peter reminded his readers of the source of strength for their serving and urging them to make full use of their gift.

The brevity of these two verses and their context of a summary list of instructions, in my mind, preclude a definitive conclusion that these verse must specifically refer to gifts of the Holy Spirit. My opinion is that they do refer to the spiritual gift of service and to the gifts of prophecy, speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues, and I think the words of the text very strongly support this conclusion.

There is a significance to this passage beyond being yet another partial list of gifts of the Holy Spirit. It feels almost silly to point this out, but this is the one mention (that I've recognized, at least) of spiritual gifts that is not in a Pauline letter or in Acts (written by Luke, who ministered with Paul). Paul's writings are not, to me, any less authoritative as Scripture than, for example, the writings of Peter or John, but this demonstrates that the gifts of the Holy Spirit were not peculiarly manifested in/through Paul's ministry or some figment of his imagination. As brief as this mention is, I believe it shows Apostles' recognition of the importance of the gifts given by the Holy Spirit that are above and beyond believers' natural abilities. This makes sense, generally, as believers should be reliant and dependent on God for and in all the ministries of the church and believers.

Did Paul Believe Jesus Would Return Within His Lifetime?

In reading 1 and 2 Timothy recently, I noticed something interesting. Both books include some teaching that I believe looks toward the "End Times". These passages have gotten their share of attention in the last several decades' books about eschatology. It is commonly believed that these teachings indicated that Paul believed that Jesus might return any time, possibly within Paul's lifetime.

What caught my attention was 2 Timothy 2:2: And entrust what you heard me say in the presence of many others as witnesses to faithful people who will be competent to teach others as well. Follow the train of Paul's thought: he was a first-generation Christian leader; he had taught, mentored and apprenticed Timothy to be a second-generation leader; in this passage he urges Timothy to teach the next, third, generation of Christian leaders; so that they could then teach a succeeding, fourth, generation of Christian leaders.


While I'm sure Paul would not have minded had Jesus returned in his lifetime (and believed it possible), he anticipated the need for at least three generations of Christian leadership beyond himself (he probably meant for Christian leaders always to be preparing the next generation of leaders). Paul probably knew that he was unlikely to be alive when those third and fourth generation Christian leaders actual became leaders. In other words, Paul was very aware that Jesus might not return within his lifetime, and set things in motion toward the possibility that Jesus might not return for decades, centuries, or even millennia.

The Gift of the Spirit, Spiritual Gifts, Speaking in Tongues and Prophecy, Part 13

Speaking more personally, my posts last weekend and this have a bit of been here before nostalgia and irony for me. Back in the early days of the charismatic movement (back when school cafeterias were serving the last of the dinoburgers) I read several testimony books. Besides telling of the authors' experiences, a de rigeur chapter covered NT passages concerning speaking in tongues, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the baptism in the Holy Spirit. I suppose every book did that because the authors had to assume that many/most Christians reading his/her book would be unfamiliar with the topics. But after a couple such books, I started skimming the chapters, looking for ideas I hadn't seen before, but otherwise moving on fairly quickly. And now I've written just such a survey! It's hard for me to say, at 4 decades' remove, how much of what I wrote above was informed by those books' gift/gifts chapters, and how much from personal Bible reading and study, but I can say that I drew from both. I won't say my posts, taken together, are better written than all those books' gift/gifts chapters (I think at least a couple were written by Jamie Buckingham, who co-authored scores of books), but I do think I covered the ground - in number of passages considered - in greater completeness. I'm not boasting. Those books' purpose and scope imposed practical limits on their chapters about the gift/gifts. And I am very well aware that even a very plain-spoken, get-to-the-point pastor-teacher could spend months teaching from "just" Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12-14, and Ephesians 4. IOW, my posts may have scratched the surface of these topics. And the gift/gifts of the Holy Spirit are like one detail in a very large jigsaw puzzle.

The Gift of the Spirit, Spiritual Gifts, Speaking in Tongues and Prophecy, Part 12

1 Timothy 4:13 Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. 14 Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. 15 Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.

2 Timothy 1:6 For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

Hebrews 2:4 God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.

I suppose I could have grouped these passages with those from Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 14 and Ephesians 4. I think, though, it's a fitting conclusion to my survey of New Testament teaching about the gift of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit, with particular focus on speaking in tongues and prophecy. Spiritual gifts are not toys, they aren't a personal power base, and they aren't badges of maturity. Spiritual gifts are given by God, the Holy Spirit, to strengthen believers – individuals and churches – and often does so by working through gifted believers (re-read Acts 13:2-3 in light of 1 Timothy 4:13 and 2 Timothy 1:6). Spiritual gifts can be neglected, ignored, despised, and abused. When that is done, harm is done, and God is hindered from working in believers as He might. When believers use their spiritual gifts – all believers, all the various gifts – the Body of Christ is built up.

The Gift of the Spirit, Spiritual Gifts, Speaking in Tongues and Prophecy, Part 11

1 Thessalonians 5:19 Do not quench the Spirit; 20 do not despise prophetic utterances. 21 But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good 

1 Corinthians 14:29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment.

At times I think that the chapter-and-verse reference system – not part of the original texts – that aids in referring to and finding specific Scriptures – can be distracting or misleading. It is visually tempting to perceive each verse in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 as a separate and distinct statement. While Paul was winding up his letter, giving brief instructions, they are interconnected, forming a unified context. Thus, the instruction not to quench the Spirit is linked to the instructions not to despise prophecies and to think about such prophecies and retain what is good. Taking these verses from 1 Thessalonians 5 together, four things are worth pointing out. First, Paul would not forbid despising prophecy unless that were an actual problem in the church at Thessalonica. 1 Thessalonians being in part a corrective letter – addressing problems in a church – it's a reasonable to infer that these verses were intended to be corrective. I think that very correction is relevant and needed today! Second, despising prophecy would have the effect of quenching the work of the Holy Spirit. Besides discouraging prophecies, it would also tend to hinder the expression of other Spiritual gifts and the work of the Holy Spirit in the congregation, generally. Third, utterances purporting to be prophecies were to be considered carefully and judged. These are the two errant extremes: reflexive rejection; credulous acceptance. Persons “prophesying” could be mistaken (or worse, of course); what was done in such a case, beyond rejecting the message, is not mentioned (a prophet judged to have been mistaken or wrong would not, of course, have been killed, as in the Old Testament). My guess is that the character and severity of the mistake/error and the character of the person would have been key considerations in what would be done. Fourth, a prophecy judged to be true prophecy was to be treated as very important (though not as Scripture, as I pointed out above).

The big picture – in 1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Thessalonians 5 – is that prophecy (and all the other Spiritual gifts, for that matter) was/is not a toy or a tool for self-aggrandizement. Prophecy was given – as a gift and as messages – for the benefit of assembled believers. Paul communicated this clearly in these two letters, and likely taught this wherever he established a church.

The Gift of the Spirit, Spiritual Gifts, Speaking in Tongues and Prophecy, Part 10

One of the (sort of) arguments put forward by Cessationists is that speaking in tongues is the “least” of the Spiritual gifts. Kind of a sour-grapesy, “Speaking in tongues isn't important, so why worry about whether speaking in tongues is for today anyway?” The idea of calling any] gift from God unimportant seems pretty arrogant and outrageous to me, and I think any of the Spiritual gifts is very important at the time that gift is needed. At any rate, Paul contradicted this argument in verse 5: ”Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues ...”. Even allowing for the statement that followed, (”... but even more that you would prophesy”), it's safe to conclude that Paul saw speaking in tongues, properly used in the right contexts, as important. Putting the two statements together, it was Paul's desire that every believer in the church at Corinth would both speak in tongues and prophesy. And lest anyone mistake his comment in verse 5 for hyperbole, Paul also said (verse 18), ”I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all.”

Another, “You shouldn't want to do this anyway,” argument used by some Cessationists is based on the first half of verse 4: “One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself”. How selfish! Right?! And Christians shouldn't be selfish, right? Well … Paul didn't say this was selfish, only that the benefit of speaking in tongues, of it self, is limited. Were Paul saying that speaking in tongues is selfish, why would he say in verse 5, ”Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues”, and in verse 18, ”I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all”? Cessationists advancing this argument also ignore the second part of verse 5, “greater is one who prophesies than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may receive edifying.” Properly used in the church, a message in tongues is accompanied by its interpretation, and thereby the church is edified, negating the speaking-in-tongues-is-selfish argument. More fundamentally, this argument doesn't make sense. Consider, why would the Holy Spirit give a gift that was entirely selfish?! The problem isn't that speaking in tongues, properly used, is selfish, but in the, ”Throw any and every kind of mud at the wall and see if any of it sticks,” mindset of those Cessationists who assert this argument.

Another misconception I've heard concerning speaking in tongues is that it was a gift to enable missionaries to preach the Gospel to people whose language the missionary doesn't understand. While something sort of like that did occur in Acts 2, and I wouldn't presume to say that God couldn't do that, 1 Corinthians 14:6-19 demonstrates that this is not the principal purpose of speaking in tongues. In this passage many/most of those hearing the message in tongues are assumed to be believers, and these believers need the message interpreted, as they do not understand the language of the message.

Over all, 1 Corinthians 14 – along with Ephesians 5:18-19 and Colossians 3:16 – describes a “church service” very different from what is currently done every Sunday in most Christian churches. Whether a Catholic church celebrating mass with much the same liturgy as has been used for many centuries or a simpler Evangelical-Fundamentalist church service featuring several hymns, a sermon, plus announcements, all have some things in common: the leader(s) plan and implement what happens; the congregation is partly audience, partly participant, doing what the leader(s) have planned. Sometimes I wonder if the Holy Spirit would be unable to work in many/most modern churches, for lack of room! In the kind of “church service” Paul described, any and every believer might on any day be a “worship leader”, a teacher, prophesying, praying for some need, with the Holy Spirit leading and the leaders of the congregation overseeing to ensure things didn't get out of order and teachings didn't contradict Scripture. I wonder whether a believer raised with modern leader-audience “church services” would even recognize the leadership of the Holy Spirit, orderliness, and ministry happening in the believers' assemblies Paul knew.

The Gift of the Spirit, Spiritual Gifts, Speaking in Tongues and Prophecy, Part 9

1 Corinthians 14:1 Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. 2 For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God; for no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries. 3 But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation. 4 One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but one who prophesies edifies the church. 5 Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy; and greater is one who prophesies than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may receive edifying. ... 12 So also you, since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church. 13 Therefore let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 15 What is the outcome then ? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also. 16 Otherwise if you bless in the spirit only, how will the one who fills the place of the ungifted say the "Amen " at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying? 17 For you are giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not edified. 18 I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all; 19 however, in the church I desire to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue.

1 Corinthians 14:26 What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two or at the most three, and each in turn, and one must interpret; 28 but if there is no interpreter, he must keep silent in the church; and let him speak to himself and to God. 29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment. 30 But if a revelation is made to another who is seated, the first one must keep silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted; 32 and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets; 33 for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. … 39 Therefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak in tongues. 40 But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner.

1 Corinthians 14 is kind of a nuts-and-bolts, here's-how-you-do-it chapter. It's also the epitome of Paul's shaggy writing style – covering lots of ground, winding here and there, briefly tossing in multiple miscellaneous ideas. Paul mixed some detailed teaching about the purposes and usages of two (actually, three) spiritual gifts with some general information about what churches did when they assembled (hint … if you read 1 Corinthians 14 expecting some sort of proto-liturgy, you'll be disappointed and/or puzzled). What emerges from this passage and passages such as Ephesian 5:18-19, Colossians 3:16 and Hebrews 10:24-25 are several common elements: honoring God with thanks and praise; encouraging and building up God's people; all of God's people contributing to these goals; the Holy Spirit being a sort of Producer-Director-Playwright, writing, and directing a sort of drama in which all the assembled believers are at once audience and actors.
 
Ephesians 5:18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
 
Hebrews 10:24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

When, in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul taught that every believer is an essential part of the Body of Christ, he wasn't spouting a beautiful-sounding, hollow platitude. He was describing how the Body of Christ was and is meant to function. Everyone contributing; everyone receiving.

Back to 1 Corinthians 14, verses 18-19 and verse 28 hint at a private and personal usage for speaking in tongues. Paul's focus in this chapter, however, is what is done in assemblies of believers. Basically, in verse 11 Paul gives what amounts to an equation: (Speaking in Tongues) + (Interpretation) = Prophecy. So, then, what is the purpose of Prophecy (and, therefore, of a message in Tongues plus Interpretation)? Verse 3 gives the answer:  edification (build up other believers); exhortation (urge fellow believers to action); consolation (comfort and encouragement during troubling times). Giving power and authority to these purposes is the fact that prophetic messages - if genuine - are from God. For this reason, Paul attached particular importance in this chapter to prophecy. It should be pointed out – this being a common misunderstanding (plus or minus a bit of Cessationist agenda) – that prophecy is not skillful or "inspired" teaching or preaching - teaching is another, distinct, spiritual gift. A comparison of Acts 13:1 and 2 Timothy 1:11 suggests that one of Paul's gifts – before and after being called to be an apostle – was teaching. So he would have known and lived this difference first-hand.

The Gift of the Spirit, Spiritual Gifts, Speaking in Tongues and Prophecy, Part 8

1 Corinthians 13:1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. ... 8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

 As mentioned above, the church at Corinth was a mess, having all kinds of problems. At the core of many of the problems was selfish disunity; one of the manifestations of this was the prideful, self-exalting manner in which certain spiritual gifts were used, especially speaking in tongues. In chapter 13, with unaccustomed brevity, Paul dug down to and both exposed the reason for their disunity and revealed its cure: the Corinthians' need for self-sacrificing love. Love – this particular kind of love – needed to motivate (i.e. from their hearts outward to their hands, feet and lips) the Corinthians' fellowship, their faithfulness in the face of persecution, their charitable giving, and their use of spiritual gifts. While it is true that a large part of 1 Corinthians is devoted to discussing spiritual gifts, Paul put the gifts into their proper place in the broader context of the life of the church and of believers by placing this chapter about self-sacrificing love right in the middle of the discussion of the gifts – spiritual gifts are important, but not central to the Christian life and faith.

Verses 8-12 show where Cessationists are correct, and where they are incorrect. Faith, hope and love are enduring, will last into eternity; spiritual gifts will cease (you know, Cessationist). The question is, when. Verses 10-12 answer this clearly: the gifts of the Spirit will cease when they are no longer necessary, when Jesus' return makes spiritual gifts unnecessary.

The Gift of the Spirit, Spiritual Gifts, Speaking in Tongues and Prophecy, Part 7

Romans 12:4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; 7 if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; 8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

1 Corinthians 12:4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. 6 There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. 7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit ; 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. ... 28 And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues. 29 All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? 30 All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? 31 But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And I show you a still more excellent way.
 
Ephesians 4:11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;

In these four passages of Scripture – only two in 1 Corinthians 12 – Paul lists spiritual gifts (abilities and people who minister using those gifts). As can be seen from the four passages above, none of the lists is comprehensive. There are gifts common to more than one list, and there are gifts unique to a particular list. Giving and Serving are unique to Romans 12; healing and miracles are unique to 1 Corinthians 12. Teaching (Teacher) is mentioned in the Romans, Ephesians and one of the 1 Corinthians lists; Prophecy (Prophet) is on all four lists. Paul wasn't writing a Systematic Theology textbook chapter about spiritual gifts, but illustrating points he was making. One important thing worth noting is that obviously supernatural gifts – e.g. Prophecy, Speaking in Tongues, Healing – are, in all three passages, mixed with less obviously supernatural gifts (e.g. Teaching, Evangelism, Giving). Scripture does not segregate or differentiate between obviously and less obviously supernatural(or “revelatory” and “non-revelatory”) spiritual gifts; spiritual gifts are all supernatural, all are given by the Holy Spirit.

The Gift of the Spirit, Spiritual Gifts, Speaking in Tongues and Prophecy, Part 6

As a sort of introductory note before moving on to passages from the Epistles, one of the arguments used by some who dismiss Pentecostal-charismatic teaching is that they ”just” “have” the books of Acts and 1 Corinthians. The “reasoning” behind this dismissal is:  Acts speaks of the earliest days of the church, when things were just getting started and thus things done were not necessarily intended to be the long-term norm for the church; 1 Corinthians was addressed to a church that was a mess, and things the Corinthians did should not be regarded as anything like normal. While it is correct that the book of Acts is about the earliest beginnings of the ~2,000 year history of Christianity, there is no explicit Scriptural basis for Cessationists' dismissal. There is no express statement to the effect that the book of Acts was a never-to-be-repeated transitional period. To the contrary, it can be seen in several of Paul's Epistles that these gifts were part of the life of the church throughout New Testament times. As for 1 Corinthians, that letter is indeed an example – not the only such – of Paul writing to correct serious problems in a church. While obviously, it would be a mistake to emulate the problems and errors of the churches in Corinth or Colossae, Paul's corrective teaching should be accepted as worth applying today (is is done with the books of Galatians or Colossians); that would, of course, include the large portions of 1 Corinthians  12, 13, and 14 Cessationists want to ignore or relegate to an irrelevant past. As for the idea that  Pentecostals and charismatics ”just” “have” the books of Acts and 1 Corinthians, well …

The Gift of the Spirit, Spiritual Gifts, Speaking in Tongues and Prophecy, Part 5

Acts 21:3 When we came in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left, we kept sailing to Syria and landed at Tyre; for there the ship was to unload its cargo. 4 After looking up the disciples, we stayed there seven days; and they kept telling Paul through the Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem. ... 8 On the next day we left and came to Caesarea, and entering the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, we stayed with him. 9 Now this man had four virgin daughters who were prophetesses. 10 As we were staying there for some days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, "This is what the Holy Spirit says: 'In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.'" 12 When we had heard this, we as well as the local residents began begging him not to go up to Jerusalem.

These two passages, again show an aspect of “normal” in the church of the New Testament. It has been speculated whether God was trying to deflect Paul from his plans – which would lead to years of imprisonment – or was letting Paul know in advance where Paul was being led by God. I'll leave that speculation for other people and times. What is relevant here is that prophecy was a normal and valuable part of the over-all life of the church. Further, one of the arguments Cessationists advance is that speaking in tongues and prophecy are “revelatory gifts” and, with the completion of the New Testament, there is no need for further revelation and hence no need for “revelatory gifts”. The New Testament does make this distinction between “revelatory gifts” and “non-revelatory gifts”. “Revelatory” can be a useful adjective in describing some of the gifts of the Holy Spirit (e.g. in a teaching context), but Cessationists (some, at least) have crafted a doctrine from this adjective. That problem aside, there is a further problem with the argument. It assumes that prophecy was used to reveal Scripture. While that was partly (but far from entirely) true of Old Testament prophets, the book of Revelation is the only book in the New Testament that is a prophetic revelation. These passages, together with Acts 11, identify a prophet, Agabus, and mention four others, the daughters of Philip the evangelist; Acts 13 vaguely mentions others, but without identifying them. For Agabus, Acts mentions but two instances of what I believe should have been a much more extensive ministry for him to be called a prophet. I suppose my opinion is open to quibble (not reasonably, I think), but the New Testament identifies Philip's daughters as prophets, but not a word of their prophecies has been recorded – not by direct quote (ala Acts 21:11), not by indirect quote (ala Acts 11:28). My opinion is that if prophecy functioned in the New Testament era church to reveal Scripture, the New Testament would have a book of Agabus and another book recording the prophecies of the daughters of Philip. So, not only is this “revelatory gifts” argument based on a distinction Scripture does not make, its premise – that New Testament prophecy revealed Scripture – is largely false.

The Gift of the Spirit, Spiritual Gifts, Speaking in Tongues and Prophecy, Part 4

Acts 8:4 Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word. 5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them. 6 The crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing. ... 12 But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike. ... 14 Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. 16 For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit.

Acts 19:1 It happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and found some disciples. 2 He said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" And they said to him, "No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit." 3 And he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" And they said, "Into John's baptism." 4 Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus." 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying.

These passages, plus the account, quoted above, in Acts 10, topple some neat, tidy, God-in-a-box schemes. In these several passages, becoming a believer, being baptized in water and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit (being baptized in the Holy Spirit) are shown to be individual, separable, events/experiences, happening in no particular order other than becoming a believer being first. In Acts 10, Cornelius and family received the Holy Spirit first and then were baptized in water; in Acts 8 and 19, the believers in Samaria and Ephesus were baptized in water first and afterwards received the gift of the Holy Spirit. In Samaria, while the passage does not state exactly how long, the distance from Jerusalem to Samaria dictate that a day or more separated the Samaritans becoming believers and being baptized from their receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. I'll leave the spiritual “physiology” and “physics” of it to God, but these passages make clear that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that every believer has is something different from having the gift of the Holy Spirit. Speaking of neat and tidy God boxes, Part 1 … some Pentecostals teach that if some one does not speak in tongues they are not saved. The Acts 8 and Acts 19 accounts contradict this teaching; the Samaritans and Ephesians are clearly identified as being believers prior to their receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit (and speaking in tongues). Speaking of neat and tidy God boxes, Part 2 … traditional Pentecostals teach that speaking in tongues is the evidence one has received the gift of the Holy Spirit. I believe these passages demonstrate that this teaching goes farther than Scripture does. Acts 8 makes clear that it was apparent to others when the Samaritan believers received the gift of the Holy Spirit, but does not mention what made it apparent. As for the believers in Ephesus, one very reasonable understanding of Acts 19 is that some were speaking in tongues, while others were prophesying – in other words, two “evidences”. While the incident in Ephesus was of sufficient import for Luke to recount (consider, how many hundreds or thousands of times might Paul have seen people become believers, be baptized in water, and/or receive the gift of the Holy Spirit? Incidents not recounted in the book of Acts?), I do not see the event of the Ephesian believers receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit being perceived by Paul and those accompanying him as unusual. To the contrary, the flow of Paul's actions show that he was simply bringing these believers into a more complete Christian faith and experience, of which receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit was a normal part.

The Gift of the Spirit, Spiritual Gifts, Speaking in Tongues and Prophecy, Part 3

Acts 10:44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. 45 All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. 46 For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. Then Peter answered, 47 "Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?" 48 And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days.

Acts 11:15 "And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did upon us at the beginning. 16 "And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' 17 "Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?"

This is from the account of Peter speaking the Gospel to the Roman centurion, Cornelius and  his family. Peter stated it, twice, the other believers present recognized it, and the author of the book of Acts, Luke, stated it: the Holy Spirit had been given to these new believers, as recognized by their speaking in tongues. That the gift of the Holy Spirit was given to believers did not surprise the believers who had come with Peter, but that these recipients were Gentiles. This indicates they regarded believers receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit as normal.
 
Acts 11:27 Now at this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them named Agabus stood up and began to indicate by the Spirit that there would certainly be a great famine all over the world. And this took place in the reign of Claudius. 29 And in the proportion that any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the relief of the brethren living in Judea.

Acts 13:1 Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."

These passages show two ways in which prophecy served the church at Antioch. Knowing of the upcoming famine in advance, the churches were able to prepare to relieve those in need. The latter passage is the initial calling of Saul (Paul) to be an Apostle, along with Barnabas.

The Gift of the Spirit, Spiritual Gifts, Speaking in Tongues and Prophecy, Part 2

Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. 5 Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 They were amazed and astonished, saying, "Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 "And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? 9 "Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs - we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God." ... 15 "For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; 16 but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: 17 'AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,' God says, 'THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS; 18 EVEN ON MY BONDSLAVES, BOTH MEN AND WOMEN, I WILL IN THOSE DAYS POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT And they shall prophesy.

This is from the account of the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was given to believers. Verse 1 states that the believers were all together. Sunday School lesson illustrations I've seen depict this gathering as just Jesus' surviving eleven disciples, possibly with Matthias, who had been chosen (in Acts 1) to replace Judas. Acts 1:15, however, indicates that a gathering of “all” the believers would have been some 120. Verse 4 indicates that these believers' speaking in tongues was the result of being filled with the Holy Spirit, and that the Holy Spirit gave them the words they spoke. Verses 7-11 are also interesting; there may have been as many as 14 languages represented among the hearers, and possibly more. 120 people speaking, some 14 languages heard … it is possible that the believers were speaking in perfect unison, or that particular believers, by the action of the Holy Spirit, spoke the language of the person(s) near them. Personally, given the din of 120 persons speaking at once and how the hundreds or thousands of persons from various regions might have been scattered among the thousands in the crowd, my opinion is that various people hearing their native languages was a miracle in addition to that of the believers speaking in tongues.
 
Acts 2:32 "This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. 33 "Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. ...

37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren , what shall we do?" 38 Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 "For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself."

Verse 32 reiterates the fact that what the onlookers heard – the speaking in tongues – was due to Jesus having given the Holy Spirit to His followers. The source of the speaking in tongues was God; that Peter felt it necessary to repeat this indicates that the hearers thought the speaking in tongues “weird” (some hearers sneered that the believers were drunk). Verse 39 gives the “limit” God placed on this gift – the Holy Spirit, as verse 38 states – all believers, wherever, for all time.

The Gift of the Spirit, Spiritual Gifts, Speaking in Tongues and Prophecy, Part 1

I've been participating, to some degree, in a discussion about the gifts of the Spirit, and thought it important to that discussion to do a fairly full survey of what the New Testament has to say about that and related topics. Having done that, I thought it would be good to post what I wrote here as well in a series of posts to make reading it all a little easier. I'll start by setting out, first, some terms of reference: how I will use Scripture; what I will endeavor to show from Scripture; things I am not saying.

Taking the last item first, I will neither claim all instances of purported speaking in tongues or prophecy are genuine, nor proper usage thereof. I do not and cannot know every speaker nor be there to witness everything every speaker does. So making such a claim would be silly, defying common sense. Making the reverse claim – that no instances of purported speaking in tongues or prophecy are genuine and proper usage – would be equally silly for the same reasons, IF there is a Scriptural basis for such activities.

That ”IF” leads me to what I will be endeavoring to show – and not show – from Scripture. Much of what will follow will be quotes from Scripture – not brief, out-of-context, snippets. First, I will show that speaking in tongues and prophecy happened in the church, and these were: part of “normal” for the church; useful in the life of the church; gifts from God. I will not, however, claim that these things were a central focus for the church. That would be silly. I view speaking in tongues, prophecy, and the other gifts of the Holy Spirit as tools. A contractor's focus is not on the coolness of his/her tools – saw, hammer, drill, trowel, air compressor – but on what (s)he makes with those tools. In the same way, the church's focus was and should be on the needs served by the gifts of the Spirit in the greater context of the purpose of the church, not on the gifts themselves.

Finally – and foundationally – I will use Scripture as authoritative. Scripture is not exhaustively complete: it does not instruct Peter to be an electronics technician and Steven to be a pastor; Scripture usually speaks to and at a general level. Where Scripture so speaks, it sets a standard. More practically, if I have a problem with something Scripture says (or seems to), the problem is me. I may misunderstand what is said, or the context or people addressed. But if I do understand a Scripture properly and ignore it because it seems weird to me, I am dismissing instruction from God. Not a good idea. In using Scripture, I will focus on the clear and plain meaning of a text; if I express interpretive opinion that goes beyond the meaning of a text, I will indicate that I am doing so.

As I move on to quoting and pointing out the meaning and significance of Scripture passages having to do with these topics, I want to note that I will not be citing the second half of Mark chapter 16. Its genuineness is disputed: I don't want to dive into the Textus Receptus vs. Westcott & Hort ditch; as will be seen, scriptures pertaining to this topic are plentiful and clear. Finally, unless noted otherwise, the translation I will be using is the New American Standard Version. I've used it for many years, but, more importantly, it's fairly literal, not idiosyncratic, and doesn't mix commentary into its text. No translation can be perfect, but the NASV is among the best modern English translations.

Materialism - Some Holiday Thoughts ... Briefly

Condemning materialism has become a commonplace during the holiday season around Thanksgiving (in the US) and Christmas. I won't question the sentiment, but will ask what it means. How meaningful is criticizing materialism if you believe the world is nothing more than material? How meaningful is your criticism if you offer nothing greater than the pursuit of material goods and experiences? The only thing you can control is what you do, so what does what you pursue say you believe in?

Gym-Rat-ian Confessions, Part 4 - Shoes & Exhilaration

Just a couple of little things ...

Up till this time last year I had noticed that my shoes - I usually was using two pair in alternation, bought 2-3 months apart - were lasting 6-9 months before the soles wore through in spots to inner layers. That was the point where I replaced them. I joined the gym and started mainly using a treadmill at the end of last year. My two current pair of shoes were bought in April and July of this year. Neither show signs of significant wear in the soles, despite 2-5 miles a day on treadmills plus two half marathons between them. Evidently the treadmill belt is considerably less wearing than concrete sidewalks. With my usage pattern this fact could save $50-$100 year in shoe costs! This is something I did not think of a year ago when I joined the gym.

About 6 weeks ago I walked in the San Jose Half Marathon, for the second time. I'm happy to say that my time over the same course as last year was 20 minutes faster! A good improvement! I'm so far from the league of competitive runners that my standings vs. otherrunners doesn't much matter to me. What I'm "competing" against is myself - being able to finish, improving from previous performance. All in all, I was very happy with how I did (as well as very tired). But that exhileration is not something that lasts - just like most/all accomplishments in life. The moment passes, the consequences play out and become background - normal. Human minds most easily "see" immediate things, that which we are currently living or have just experienced. But true long-lasting joys are found in things that last - people who live long lifetimes and eternal things.

The Illusion of "Sign Gifts"

An article I read recently concerning a conference in Southern California attacking Pentecostals and charismatics made a point I thought interesting. People who teach that certain gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased operating after the First Century AD - "Cessationism" - make a point of using phrases such as "revelatory gifts", or "sign gifts", as if those terms came from Scripture. While there maybe some descriptive utility in this usage, it can also be misleading if one assumes Scripture makes such a distinction. It does not. Making this distinction is foundational to Cessationism. It separates the gifts of the Spirit into two classes of gifts, setting up the possibility that one class ceased, while the other continued. In other words, part of the conclusion has been built - consciously or subconsciously - into one of the premises.

By way of contrast, Scripture speaks of the gifts of the Spirit, undifferentiated, all supernatural, all empowered by the Holy Spirit. This is seen in both Romans 12:6-8 and 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 & 28-30. Both mix the the obviously miraculous gifts and those less obviously so as having the same character, differentiated only by the sort of need each meets. Aside from refusing to accept gifts God has given to the Body of Christ for its benefit, the danger in distinguishing the more obviously miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit from those that seem more ordinary is to fail to recongize that the working and empowering of the Holy Spirit is just as intrinsic and critical to gifts such as teaching, serving, hospitality and giving as to speaking in tongues or healing. One may teach or serve or give with one's natural talents and means, but not so the obviously miraculous gifts. The path from distinguishing the obviously miraculous gifts from those less obviously so, through failing to recognize the less obviously miraculous as, nevertheless, the work of the Holy Spirit, to operating on natural talent rather than relying on the Holy Spirit is perilously short.

Gym-Rat-ian Confessions, Part 3 - Bohhhh---Riiiiinnnngg!

Half an hour or more on a treadmill or elliptical or stationary bicycle is just plain boring - just being honest, here. And done 5 or 6 or 7 times a week, that boredom would soon become a mental barrier to working out. So, what to do?

When I was walking outside on the streets, music was sufficient. The scenery and people I met changed continually, and I had to pay attention to things like uneven sidewalks and traffic (even if I get flattened by a driver who is in the wrong, I'm still flattened!). One thing I found handy was Bluetooth headphones. That way I don't have to worry about where to keep my smart phone so that the cord between the phone and headphones will not be so tight it pulls out or pulls the phone out of my pocket so it falls to the ground. At the gym, I probably see some one accidentally yank their phone or MP3 player off a machine's shelf a couple times a month. I cringe every time I see it! The Bluetooth headphones I've found that have good sound and are durable (I've spent hours sweating on the treadmill and walked a half marathon using them) are LG HBS700. But on a treadmill, music alone wasn't enough for me.

I've seen others reading magazines and books. That can work pretty well, and I have read books while on the treadmill. But books can be a little awkward. Another thing that has worked well for me is reading books on my tablet computer (an e-reader will work just as well, though tablets can have apps for more than one e-reader format). By using my tablet, I can (and often do) read from more than one book over my time on the treadmill. Often I read 2-5 chapters from the Bible (I have two translations on my tablet at present), and then read in whatever other book I happen to be reading at the time. The latter, lately, have been novels by Jules Verne and Charles Dickens (complete works of older authors can be very inexpensive). I also have the book our church home group is using on my tablet. Imagine trying to read from 2 or 3 "dead tree" books while using a treadmill (or elliptical or stationary bicycle)!

Is "Pie in the Sky" All That Powerful?

Socialists have criticized Christianity as anesthetizing people (ala Marx's opiate of the people) with promises of, "Pie in the sky when you die". Really? I cannot bring myself to see much power in pie in the sky for some one who is going through weeks-long  or years-long hardship or suffering! I don't recall thinking much on heaven when I faced brain surgery or my 2-year-old child was on chemotherapy! I don't recall thinking much on heaven when our family was going through financial hardship! Now, God being in control of things I am not? Yeah! I thought on that a lot!

Gym-Rat-ian Confessions, Part 2 - Who Goes There?

I always half believed a stereotyped image of the sort of people who go to the gym faithfully almost every day: almost entirely teeny-, 20-, 30-, and 40-somethings (maybe a few die-hard 50-somethings); mostly in-shape or crazy-in-shape; mostly people whose lives are centered on their chosen type of fitness (e.g. body-building or runners). Ignoring the fact that I can't read people's minds, I'll say up front that I've seen such people at the gym over the past several months.

Age Range. Obviously, what follows is based on my personal, imperfect, guesstimates. With that caveat, I think I can safely say that I've seen youths (boys and girls) as young as junior high age (obviously with parental consent) , and I've seen septuagenarians and possibly octogenarians. I'd guess the age range for most people I see as 30YO-55YO.

Fitness Level. This is one of the two areas where the stereotype is furthest from reality. I'd say that people who are visually in-shape or crazy-in-shape are in the minority (a large minority, but still a minority). Saying this as a description, not denigration, I've seen quite a few people who are obviously not in-shape, or are very out-of-shape. FWIW, I'd place myself somewhere between not-in-shape and visually in-shape.

Reason for Being Gym Regulars. Like I said above, there are obviously people at the gym for whom their chosen type of fitness is at or near the center of their lives. But there is a wide range of apparent purposes represented (based on outward appearance). Some people are obviously there to lose weight. Some people are there to get in shape. Those two are my purposes. Some are there to recover from some health event - an injury, a pregnancy, a stroke. Some elderly people are there to maintain and even expand their physical capabilities.

I don't need or want to arm-twist anyone into joining a gym. But if doing so would make sense to some one, and they have the personal discipline to do it (rather than throwing their money away for something they won't use), maybe the above will help overcome some mental roadblocks. And it need not be applicable to gym membership only. I've seen a similar wide range of ages, abilities and purposes among people walking and running as exercise on their own.

Miracles Within Miracles

I've been reading recently in the Gospels and Acts, and it occurred to me that it's easy to miss the scope of miracles in some healings. A person healed of leprosy may be just that, healed of that disease. But if the disease did damage to parts of the body, that also may have been healed. This was certainly true when deaf, blind and lame people were healed. For such a person, being healed of the immediate cause of their blindness, etc., would not have sufficed. In addition to that healing, the person's nerve pathways would have had to "learn" to communicate information, the person's brain would have had to learn to interpret information or learn to control muscles never used, and those muscles would have to "learn" and gain the strength to be used!

Gym-Rat-ian Confessions, Part 1

It's months overdue, but I have a confession. I'm becoming a Gym Rat. At the end of last year several things came together. I was tired of having to work my exercise time - outdoor walking - around the weather (both winter and summer present challenges, even in Silicon Valley's mild climate). We found that my company-provided health plan offers membership at 24 Hour Fitness at a substantial discount. My company shuts down every year between Christmas and New Year, and I checked out 24 Hour to see if it could make sense for me. It did and does.

Let me say at the outset, a gym membership does not come with the discipline to darken its doors or exercise machines with one's shadow. Discipline and determination are developed, not bought. Buying a year's gym membership won't magically get one inside the gym and exercising every day. And I wasn't trying to buy that discipline. I had already been doing my regular walking for exercise (not an occasional casual stroll!) for well over a year and a half.

So, why did I join? I already mentioned greater flexibility regarding weather. It never rains inside, nor does the temperature get into the 90s. I mainly (but not exclusively) use the treadmill. Walking outside, I have to estimate my pace, and if I want it to be steady for some measured time, I have to account for things like stoplights and crossing intersections. Treadmills do that for me and time me. Treadmills are safer - no cars with distracted drivers, no idiots on bicycles passing me from behind on the sidewalk without announcing their presence, no idiots on bicycles coming straight at me on the sidewalk ignoring my existence. Streets in my area of Silicon Valley are fairly flat, but half-marathon courses (such as that of the San Francisco Half Marathon) can include hills. Treadmills can add varying degree of incline (handy generally to improve stamina and also to increase the number of calories burned per minute). It's not the same as walking outside, but using a treadmill offers some useful advantages and flexibility. I've also been using weight machines, to improve my general strength (not for body-building as such) and burn calories in a different way.

I plan to post more along these lines. I'm not into, "Me! Me! Me!" but blogging is about things that occupy my time, energy and thoughts.

Stuff & Life

Haven't posted much for several months ...

Stuff grows to exceed available space.

Life expands to exceed available time.

I suppose those may be more "First World Problems" than universal, but maybe not.

More About Music I Enjoyed In My Younger Days

1960s and 1970s (especially the first half of that decade) pop-rock was the music I grew up with. 1970s "Jesus Music" was much of the music I to which I listened in my years between high school and my first years of being married. There was a lot of good and fun in that music, and I still listen to music from that genre and time. But to be truthful, some of it was a bit simplistic and trite - annoyingly so. It wasn't the very best thing for feeding one's spirit (though there was much worse "out there" in secular music of the time). Even worse - in my opinion, of course - in light of the past 3 decades was the way eschatology was presented.

There was an near (or maybe actual) dishonesty to how end-times teaching was presented in the 1970s among Evangelicals (and maybe Fundamentalists). Some lip service was paid to, "No one knows the day or hour." It was always a qualifying caveat mentioned in books and presentations about end-times prophecy, but both the proportional use of time and the tone contrast between the caveat and the prophetic speculations communicated to the hearers that the caveat did not matter much. The grand, over-all, message a hearer would come away with was, "Any moment now, any second now," somewhere between urgent and hysteria. Personally, I think some teachers, churches and education institutions owed (and owe!) Evangelical Christian believers a very repentant apology for so carelessly wasting such believers' time, energy and money! And then there's the harm such unfulfilled urgency did to the Gospel's credibility among both weak believers and non-believers! Suggesting, to a point barely short of predicting, something that did not happen has consequences, sometimes eternal consequences! Ask Harold Camping about that, if he's still alive.

Getting back to 1970s "Jesus Music", it was, in part, a vehicle for communicating that eschatological urgency and enthusiasm. Larry Norman's "I Wish We'd All Been Ready" and 2nd Chapter of Acts' "Something Tells Me" are just two examples of this (but far from the only such). So even in the "Jesus Music" I enjoy - including artists I particularly like - there are aspects that taint my enjoyment. Humans are fallible, and need to be more conscious of this fact, Christians especially.

Thinking About the Music I Grew Up With

On a musical level, I enjoy much 1960s and some 1970s pop music. It's what I grew up with. But increasingly I'm unable to dissociate the music from the message of some of the music and the lives (and sometimes deaths) of the musicians from their music. I cannot dissociate, for example, The Association's "Requiem" or Creedence's "Fortunate Son" from the hideous consequences of the way the US withdrew from Vietnam (seriously, who that was even somewhat aware of the horrors of Lenin & Stalin and/or of Mao could not have foreseen Vietnam's "reeducation" camps and the Khmer Rouge's "Killing Fields"?! My enjoyment of "California Dreaming", "Monday, Monday" and "Creeque Alley" is alloyed by the way Papa John, Mama Cass and Mama Michelle screwed up their lives (even ignoring the claims of incest against Papa John!)?

Trinity and Divinity, Part 5, Hebrews 1:1-12

Before proceeding, I have a little confession. I've been referring to Hebrews 1:8 for quite a few years, and have read the chapter many times. But for some reason it wasn't till preparing for this that I really followed and understood the writer's full train of reasoning in it. As will be seen, that fuller understanding augmented rather than changed my understanding of Hebrews 1:8.

Hebrews 1:1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.

In these first two verses, the writer sets up a pattern of parallel contrasts. Here, it's limited human prophets vs. the Son, though that will not by the primary contrast in the chapter. Human prophets were “long ago”, and were limited human beings. The Son, however, is described both as the Co-Creator and as the “heir of all things”. This latter cannot be true unless the son is not a “thing”, created.

“(I)n these last days has spoken to us in His Son,” is interesting, though perhaps a rabbit trail. One's immediate thought is, “Well of course! The prophets spoke and their words were written down. Jesus spoke, and His words and story were written down.” Not so fast! There were prophets in the church as well. Agabus and the daughters of Philip are mentioned in the Book of Acts. Paul spoke of prophecy as a gift of the Spirit in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12. And then Paul spoke, in Ephesians 4:11, of prophets as being one of Jesus' gifts to the church. So, taken together all these passages mean: 1.) New Testament prophets are means in which believers are, “ spoken to ... in His Son;” the Son is speaking in them; 2.) God, Who is speaking in these New Testament prophets, includes the Son (Jesus, Who gave the prophets) and the Holy Spirit (Who gives prophecies).

3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.

Chapter and verse divisions in the Bible are later, human, “inventions” that make the Bible easier to use. So this sentence really is part of the thought in verse 2. Where verse 2 speaks of the Son as the uncreated Creator, this verse firmly shows that the Son is God: in glory; in nature; in power. Isaiah 42:8 points out that God does not give His glory to any other, so that the Son radiates God's glory means that the Son is God. “(E)xact representation” cannot be explained away by saying that a really good portrait or sculpture is a representation of a person. Not so! A portrait is two-dimensional; the real person is three-dimensional. A sculpture is made of stone or metal, and is not living, unlike the real person. “(E)xact representation” can only be true if the Son is God. And no “thing”, a creature, can uphold all creatures. Only the Creator, God, can do that.

And this verse states the the Son's power is not limited: not to within creation; there is no creature that is not subject to the Son's sustaining power. Again, the Son is not created, but is the uncreated Co-Creator.

When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. 

Here the writer of Hebrews sets up the contrast that will be the topic of the rest of the chapter – the Son vs. the angels. This contrast is devastating to the Arian theology of the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society, in further showing that the Son is God, and in showing that the Son is not angel (not even the chief angel). Two differences com into view in this verse and a half. First, the Son's name, the “Son”; second, and less obviously, the Son's position of power and authority. The writer has already precluded understanding the Son as a created “thing”. So “Son” (and “Father”) express relationship and intimacy, not creature-hood and/or inferiority. This relationship and intimacy set the Son apart from the angels. Angels do not have such a relationship with God. Sitting down on a throne means the Son is in a position of power and authority; the angels serve the One with that power and authority.

5 For to which of the angels did He ever say, "YOU ARE MY SON, TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU"? (Psalm 2:7) And again, "I WILL BE A FATHER TO HIM AND HE SHALL BE A SON TO ME"? (2 Samuel 7:14)

Verses 5 and 6 are the closest Hebrews 1 comes to lending support to Arianism, yet they fall short, and are amenable to a better interpretation. Were the Son a creature – an angel or something unique and “other” - God would have said, “Today I have made you.” What was done, however, is that the Father-Son relationship was established within the One, uncreated, God.

6 And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, "AND LET ALL THE ANGELS OF GOD WORSHIP (Deuteronomy 32:43 & Psalm 97:7) 

“Firstborn” has two meanings in Scripture: the first one born among multiple children; one who is preeminent or the heir. The first meaning doesn't work, even within the idea that the Son is a creature (an idea already precluded). The second does work: the Son is preeminent over creation, of which the Son is Co-Creator. There are at least two important things to understand in the command that the angels worship the Son. First, they are inferior (positionally) to the Son. Superiors do not worship inferiors; peers do not worship peers. Second, only God is to be worshiped. So, in pointing out the fact that the Son is not an angel, the writer also shows that the Son is God.

7 And of the angels He says, "WHO MAKES HIS ANGELS WINDS, AND HIS MINISTERS A FLAME OF FIRE." (Psalm 104:4) 8 But of the Son He says, "YOUR THRONE, O GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER, AND THE RIGHTEOUS SCEPTER IS THE SCEPTER OF HIS KINGDOM. 9 "YOU HAVE LOVED RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HATED LAWLESSNESS; THEREFORE GOD, YOUR GOD, HAS ANOINTED YOU WITH THE OIL OF GLADNESS ABOVE YOUR COMPANIONS." (Psalm 45:6-7) 

Verses 7 and 8 culminate the servant-served contrast between the angels and the Son. Angels are specifically called servants in verse 7, and then verse 8 expands on the authority of the Son. Apparently, there are two ways, “Your throne o God,” could be translated, the other being, “God is your throne.” That latter doesn't make sense, unless one needs to avoid a clear statement that the Son is God. And that's what Hebrews 1:8 is, a clear statement that the Son is God in a context that identifies the Son as the uncreated Co-Creator served by and sustaining the highest of creatures (angels).

10 And, "YOU, LORD, IN THE BEGINNING LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH, AND THE HEAVENS ARE THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS; 11 THEY WILL PERISH, BUT YOU REMAIN; AND THEY ALL WILL BECOME OLD LIKE A GARMENT, 12 AND LIKE A MANTLE YOU WILL ROLL THEM UP; LIKE A GARMENT THEY WILL ALSO BE CHANGED. BUT YOU ARE THE SAME, AND YOUR YEARS WILL NOT COME TO AN END." (Psalm 102:25-27) 

A key fact may or may not be obvious in the verse and its source in Psalm 102. Clearly, as quoted here in Hebrews, “ YOU, LORD” refers to the Son. While those words are not present in the sentence the writer of Hebrews quotes, it is present throughout the Psalm. And “LORD” there in Psalm 102 is the Divine name, YHWH! So many/most of the intended First Century audience for the book of Hebrews would have recognized that, in using this quote from Psalm 102, the Son was being equated with God.

Once again, the Son is spoken of as the Creator. The contrast in these verses between creation being subject to time and aging and the Son being ageless and unchanging show that the Son is eternal, a characteristic of God alone.

13 But to which of the angels has He ever said, "SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET"? (Psalm 110:1) 14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?

The writer of Hebrews returns to the contrast between the Son and the angels. The Son is at rest; the angels are at work serving believers. The Son is the ruler (of creation); the angels are servants.

In detail and taken as a whole, Hebrews chapter 1 devastates the Arian theology of the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society! The Son, Jesus, is the Co-Creator of every creature. The Son speaks as God. The Son is eternal. The Son is as superior to the angels as a king is superior to His servants. The Son is directly identified as God.

Trinity and Divinity, Part 4, Acts 5:1-11 & Psalm 139:1-10

Acts 5:1 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife's full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles' feet. 3 But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? 4 "While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God." 5 And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it. 6 The young men got up and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him. 7 Now there elapsed an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter responded to her, "Tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price?" And she said, "Yes, that was the price." 9 Then Peter said to her, "Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out as well." 10 And immediately she fell at his feet and breathed her last, and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things.

This is a reasonably straightforward – if more than a bit scary – story. Understanding the historical context may be helpful. Weeks or months earlier, on the day of Pentecost, some 3000 people became Christian believers. And more were added in the following days and weeks. The festival season from Passover through Pentecost drew Jewish people from all over the world, and as Acts 2 makes clear, that was the case for many of the new believers. They remained in Jerusalem to learn their new-found faith, being far from home, far from the occupations that kept roofs over their heads and food on their tables. So they had significant immediate needs, which new believers who did live in and about Jerusalem covered by voluntarily selling properties and giving the proceeds for the church to distribute as needed. It was temporary (these folks eventually went home or built new lives there), but very necessary.

This is the context for Ananias and Sapphira's actions. As Peter pointed out, Ananias and Sapphira were under no obligation to sell their property. And, having sold it, they were under no obligation to give the entire proceeds to the church. Where Ananias and Sapphira got in trouble was that in presenting their gift they lied about what their gift was. In other words, had Ananias said, “We sold our property, and here is a portion of the proceeds,” nothing would have happened to them. But helping their fellow (?) believers was, at best, secondary to Ananias' and Sapphira's purpose. They wanted respect from the Apostles and the Christian believers, but a respect for something more than what they had done. So they lied – as they understood it, to the Apostles and, through incidental bystanders, to the church. Peter informed Ananias (and later, in more general terms, Sapphira) that they didn't merely lie to men, but to the Holy Spirit, who Peter stated is God. And this was no casual, careless, imprecise, comment! Peter was explaining to Ananias what he had done and the gravity of what he had done! Peter did not (and would not!) pronounce God's judgment carelessly!

Psalm 139:1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. 3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all. 5 You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it. 7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. 9 If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, 10 Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.

This passage – indeed, the entirety of Psalm 139 – speaks of two unique aspects of the nature of God, omniscience and omnipresence. Only God is omniscient and omnipresent.

Verse1 sets the context of the person to which the Psalm refers, and verse 4 reiterates it. The Psalmist is speaking of God, using the Divine name by which God revealed Himself to Moses and Israel. Thus, “You” in verses 2, 3 and 5 refer to God. Verse 6 is at once an expression of wonder and a statement of the fact that the idea of God knowing all and being present everywhere is beyond human reason and understanding. The Creator is beyond the understanding of the created … what a shock! And then comes verse 7. The Psalmist states that God's Spirit is Omnipresent. That leaves but two options. Either God's Spirit is 1.) something impersonal, the expression of God's power, or 2.) the Holy Spirit is a person, which would mean that verse 7 states that God's Spirit is God.

As I pointed out in this 2011 blog post, http://soapypetesbox.blogspot.com/2011/08/personhood-and-deity-of-holy-spirit.html, the Scriptures preclude Option 1, stated above. Scripture attributes knowledge, understanding, thought, speech, consciousness, emotions, will, authority, hearing, sight, judgment and abilities to have fellowship, reveal and teach. These characteristics can only mean that God's Spirit, the Holy Spirit is a person. Therefore, Psalm 139:7 can only mean that the holy Spirit is God.